Dean’s Desk

“The students of Seattle Pacific Seminary have now been organized into five “learning communities” (“LC”). This action is in response to the ATS Educational Standard, Section ES 1.1.2, which reads: “The number of students enrolled in any degree program, along with those who have shared investment in the educational goals of that degree program (i.e., those with regular and substantive interaction with the learnings) shall be sufficient to ensure a viable community of learning” (p. 2 of 18).”

“I want to talk with you today about leadership. At the risk of starting things off on a down note, while I considered the topic, my mind drifted toward the presidential race, and I became depressed. [….] [A]s I moaned about this for a while, I was struck by a rather obvious insight: it’s not that we need more leaders; what we need is a very different kind of leadership.”

“On a spring day in the year 203, a 22-year old Christian woman by the name of Vibia Perpetua was arrested by Roman imperial soldiers. The charge against her, to which she very proudly pled guilty, was ‘being a Christian.’ [….] [While in prison,] Perpetua’s baby was restored to her for a time. She [wrote in her journal]: ‘[Arranging] for the baby to stay with me in prison…instantly made me feel better—no more pain and anxiety for the baby’s sake. And so for me the prison suddenly became a palace, so that I didn’t want to be anywhere else.’”

“In just a moment, I’m going to show you a clip from the movie, A League of Their Own, a fictionalized story about the All-American Girl Professional Baseball League. The clip shows a conversation between Dottie Hinson (played by Geena Davis) […] and her manager, Jimmy Dugan (played by Tom Hanks). [….] [In applying Hanks’ famed speech to seminary,] [y]ou are about to discover that seminary is also hard—and I’m here to tell you that the ‘hard’ is what makes it great.”

“Several years ago I had occasion to teach classes on Christian prison literature at two Washington State correctional facilities. Doing so was part of my research for a book I am writing on Christian prisoners of conscience, including Vibia Perpetua, Maximus the Confessor, Thomas More and Martin Luther King, Jr. I began to wonder if persons who were actually incarcerated would see things in these writings that I might miss.”

“A strange and beautiful thing happened today, one of those episodes in the life of a parish minister which illustrates the curious ambiguity of human life. [….] [My wife] Marilyn and I went over to K.’s apartment this morning, responding (somewhat reluctantly) to her invitation. After some strange conversation about abortion and reincarnation, plus a rundown of highlights from the seasonal celebrations, K. [presented us with a gift].”

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SignPosts represents the virtual community of Seattle Pacific Seminary. This space is devoted to telling stories, sharing announcements, curating articles, and convening conversations on the intersection of faith, theology, church, and contemporary context. It is a space that we hope will expand horizons, inspire reflection, and provide glimpses to what N.T. Wright calls “signposts” of God’s new creation, converging into our present, as seen through the lives of the students and faculty of Seattle Pacific Seminary.